What encouragement do you need to eat a “parma”. Or is it a “parmi”? Maybe we won't start that debate. Anyway, people are certainly coming up with some varied and interesting ways to help our battling primary producers in their time of great need. Buying a parma at your local pub or club which is one way you can donate and grab a good feed with the “Parma for A Farmer” initiative. Meanwhile, Wollongong councillor John Dorahy (pictured) is proposing Wollongong City Council dress up like a farmer for a day as a way of raising money and drawing attention to the cause. It’s different, but some schools of the region have also flagged similar initiatives with their students. On Wednesday Woolworths also announced it would donate all profits from sales of their fresh food departments on Saturday to Rural Aid’s “Buy A Bale” appeal. Coles also pledged to match dollar-for-dollar every donation by Coles’ customers for the month of August to help farming communities doing it tough. Official figures released on Wednesday confirmed the entire state of NSW is being impacted by drought. According to the Department of Primary Industries, 61 per cent of NSW is either in drought or intense drought, while nearly 39 per cent is drought affected. Those figures were in the high 90 last week but there were increased after another week of winter went by without very much rainfall at all. “This is tough," NSW Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said in a statement on Wednesday. “There isn’t a person in the state that isn’t hoping to see some rain for our farmers and regional communities." The predicament facing our farmers of a horrid one and the worst part is there appears to be no real relief in sight in terms of significant rain. “Producers are now faced with some very difficult decisions on whether to graze sown crops or rely on potential rainfall in the next two months in order to increase yield production," Mr Blair said.

Editorial August 9 2018

What encouragement do you need to eat a “parma”. Or is it a “parmi”? Maybe we won't start that debate.

Anyway, people are certainly coming up with some varied and interesting ways to help our battling primary producers in their time of great need.

Buying a parma at your local pub or club which is one way you can donate and grab a good feed with the “Parma for A Farmer” initiative.

Meanwhile, Wollongong councillor John Dorahy (pictured) is proposing Wollongong City Council dress up like a farmer for a day as a way of raising money and drawing attention to the cause. It’s different, but some schools of the region have also flagged similar initiatives with their students.

On Wednesday Woolworths also announced it would donate all profits from sales of their fresh food departments on Saturday to Rural Aid’s “Buy A Bale” appeal.

Coles also pledged to match dollar-for-dollar every donation by Coles’ customers for the month of August to help farming communities doing it tough.

Official figures released on Wednesday confirmed the entire state of NSW is being impacted by drought.

According to the Department of Primary Industries, 61 per cent of NSW is either in drought or intense drought, while nearly 39 per cent is drought affected.

Those figures were in the high 90 last week but there were increased after another week of winter went by without very much rainfall at all.

“This is tough," NSW Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said in a statement on Wednesday.

“There isn’t a person in the state that isn’t hoping to see some rain for our farmers and regional communities."

The predicament facing our farmers of a horrid one and the worst part is there appears to be no real relief in sight in terms of significant rain.

“Producers are now faced with some very difficult decisions on whether to graze sown crops or rely on potential rainfall in the next two months in order to increase yield production," Mr Blair said.